ˏˋ°•*⁀➷  Helena  ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

The first face she saw was her daughter's. Silvia was only 15 months old, but Helena already couldn't image a world without her. Her big brown eyes and small stature practically begged anyone around her to protect her, and Helena had fallen victim to her charms the moment she was born.

Holding her was Mercury, the father. Immediately, Helena snapped at him, "Why are you here?!"

Gently handing Silvia off to her, he tried to explain himself, while Helena looked over her child, inspecting her for any sign of injury or illness. With this man, you just never know. Daughter or not, he was incompetent, opening Silvia up to his path of endless destruction.

"I just wanted to see you one last time. I've missed you."

"You didn't seem to miss me when you were in bed with that Cali Mays!" She hissed and turned her back on him. She looked down at her daughter, swaddled up tight, and thought better of starting this again here. She sighed, "Look, I don't wanna argue with you for our goodbye. We had some great times, and, of course, a perfect little angel," she tickled Silvia's nose.

Mercury shuffled a bit closer, and while Helena initially backed away from him, she realized he had something to say. "I, uh, saw your folks out there."

  "Ma & Pa?" Helena gasped. She hadn't seen them in almost two years now, after they'd thrown her out upon learning she was pregnant. Mercury nodded and wrapped his arms around her. She missed this. His warmth, his presence, his smell.

  "I can tell them to leave if you want," he mumbled into her shoulder.

  "No, don't." She said and felt something wet roll down her cheek. She hadn't even realized she'd been tearing up. Despite everything, she really did love him, and she hated herself for it.   "Thank you." She whispered.

  He held her like that for what felt like forever, and yet no time at all. The peacekeeper eventually came in, barking about how their time was up, and started dragging him out of the room.

  "I missed you too!" She called as they dragged him out the door, and she caught his smirk before rounding the corner. Just like that, her great love was gone from her life forever. Not that she'd be long for this world anymore.

  But then another peacekeeper surged towards her, and she instinctively pulled Silvia back. They were going to take her from her. Her baby. Her little girl.

  "No!" She cried. "You can't take her! You can't take her from me!" Silvia was crying now, her little hand wrapped around two of Helena's fingers as if trying to hold on.

  "Your next visitor is ready. Time is up." The peacekeeper said through gritted teeth, still trying to wrestle the child away from her.

  "I won't leave her!" She wailed.

  She saw stars then, and everything went black for a moment. The next thing she knew she was falling to the floor, Silvia ripped away from her as she fell. Her cheek stung, and she couldn't bring herself to get up as she watched white boots stomp away from her, her baby in his arms.

  She ignored the new people in the room —her parents, judging by the shoes that they'd been wearing for years — and curled up into a ball, trying to console herself. This was real.

She felt the oddly comforting presence of her mother then, crouching next to her and stroking her hair out of her face. It was as if the past two years never even existed. Helena could understand; seeing your child in distress overruled everything. And though she would never see her mother again, she knew she loved her.

･ﾟﾟ･｡ .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. ｡･ﾟﾟ･

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ Killen ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

They wouldn't let Killen see his whole family. He lived in a larger house with his parents, six siblings, and both maternal & paternal grandparents. Apparently, they had a rule of one person at a time if they're over 18, and if they're under they can only have one adult companion with them.

First came Aspen and Laurel. Aspen was the second oldest, though the tallest out of everyone, including their dad. Laurel was one year older than Killen, and though she was old enough to be entered into the slaughter lottery, she apparently wasn't old enough to come and say goodbye to him alone.

  They ran over and hugged him, while Killen was focused on holding in his tears. He didn't want to upset his family any further. Aspen grabbed him by his shoulders, almost shaking him."I knew you shouldn't have taken any tesserae!" He exclaimed, and Killen just looked down at his shoes.

  "It's not his fault! I did too!" Laurel insisted, pulling Aspen off of him. "We needed the food and you know it!"

  They fought for the entire six minutes he got with them, while Killen just stood there, drinking it all in. He'd never watch those two bicker again. He'd never even hear their voices again, or feel their warmth. He gave them both one last hug before the Peacekeepers kicked them out.

  Next came Populus, escorted by Mom. Populus was two years younger than him and resembled Mom in a way none of the rest of his siblings did. Seeing them here together was an odd sort of irony.

  He'd never seen Populus cry, but his eyes were all red and puffy, and he looked like he was teetering on the edge of sobbing again. Killen crouched down before him, forcing a smile of his own. He wiped the remaining tears off of his little brother's cheeks with his sleeve and studied his face. He'd never see him again.

  "It's gonna be okay, Poppy." Was all he could manage without falling apart. Mom was sniffling behind him, dabbing at her eyes with her dress. He'd only ever seen her cry once, and that was years ago. "Don't cry, mom. Please, don't cry." His voice cracked, and she practically threw herself into his arms.

  "You have to be strong. For them." He whispered into her ear, though he was sure she'd manage. Killen knew she was a strong person. She could survive anything.

  She just sniffled in response.

  He was about to break apart from her, when he felt little Populus, so short for his age, throw himself onto his & Mom's legs. They stayed like that for the rest of their time.

  Then came Thorn, the oldest, with little Woodrow. This had been Woodrow's first reaping, and hearing his sobs now made Killen realize just how traumatizing this whole experience must be for him. Could he be thinking he was next?

  Killen did his best to reassure his little brother, telling him how the likelihood of him getting Reaped was very very slim.

  "You're taking this rather well," Thorn grunted after Woodrow had calmed a little.

  Killen sighed. "I guess it hasn't really hit me yet. I mean, it just doesn't feel real."

  "Tell me about it."

  "Just in case," Killen whispered, leaning close to Thorn so that Woodrow wouldn't hear, "don't let them take out any more tesserae. It isn't worth scaring them, like that." Plus, they'll have one less mouth to feed, Killen thought, and just put himself into a worse mood.

  Thorn nodded, and steered Woodrow out of the room, as their time was up.

  His friend Quercus came in, and they just made small talk, trying to get his mind off of the event. Then came little Ebony and Dad, in which most of their time consisted of trying to calm Ebony down. Then his grandparents, one by one, all except for Grandpa Oak, who was bedridden. He'd never see him again.

  Grandma Martha gave him Oak's ring, which was slightly too big for Killen. It was to be his token, and he accepted it gratefully. He slipped it onto his thumb and said goodbye for the last time. Funny to think he'd die before any of his grandparents.

  And just like that the hour was up, and the next thing he knew, he was getting dragged onto a train. To the Capitol. He'd die hundreds of miles away from home.

･ﾟﾟ･｡ .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. ｡･ﾟﾟ･

A/N

For some reason, this chapter was kinda hard to write. And I couldn't fit in all of Killen's mf rabbit family, so we only got scenes from a couple of his siblings + his mom

I'm also not good at writing kids, so Silvia kinda got the short end of the stick on that one. I don't even know what a 15-month-old is supposed to look like

I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have for Helena & Killen in their interviews!